Since 1987, The Mission has celebrated 33 Christmases in Mexico. Now, we have the pleasure of celebrating in Romania as well! 

At the Mexico campus, there have been countless Christmas parties, piñatas and birthday cakes for Jesus. After our Christmas talent show, put on by the kids, and the tamale family dinner, new Christmas pajamas are handed out as very excited kids get put to bed to the promise of only one more sleep until Christmas morning. 

We have not been in Romania for as long, so we are in the exciting and fun stage of introducing traditions there as well. This year, we will be hosting a big family Christmas dinner with all of the kids and their parents!

“I had never experienced a Christmas morning, until I came to The Mission with my siblings when I was twelve years old. Seeing the room full of presents and lots of kid’s faces lighting up, was something I will never forget. Tangible love was in the room.  When I was 19 years old, I became house mom in that same house I grew up in. I wanted the girls to experience what I did that first Christmas. Celebrating Christmas each year at The Mission is so full of love, joy and family. To this day, I am still in contact with a few of the families who sponsored me as a young girl. We write each other and they have continued to send me gifts each year.” - Susana, Youth Pastor, Mexico base. 

Anyone can partner with us in making Christmas special for our kids. Whether you are a current sponsor or simply would like to join in on the fun, we would so appreciate your partnership! 

It was the summer of 2017, God had been speaking to us about serving in Romania for almost two years. The process of purchasing our 85,000+ square foot building was a miraculous adventure with the Lord; our first day in the new facility was in the spring of 2018. 

While we were purchasing the building and remodeling part of the first floor, our team still wanted to serve the kids we’d come to Romania for. They were the “why” behind it all. With that, we decided to rent a small house in the middle of one of the most impoverished Roma [Gypsy] villages in the area. It had dirt floors, a small wood stove for heat and one semi functioning window. Despite the conditions and the challenge of navigating a completely different culture, our team put into practice the many parenting tools we have gathered over the past 32 years. We knew how to care for at-risk children and began with the basics.

One of the first things we realized was that the communities we wanted to serve in Romania, mostly Roma villages, spoke a language of violence.  In their nation, they were considered outcasts. Throughout the early history of Romania, the Roma people were enslaved; it wasn’t until 1856 that they were freed. The affects of hundreds of years of oppression are still very much present in their day to day lives; leaving them marginalized and under-resourced. This left the family structure shattered and undefined. Within the villages, violence was used in place of words. Education was a privilege that paled in comparison to the need to survive. These were the children we were saying yes to. 

In that little house, we began falling in love with the Roma children. Most of them were not enrolled in school and spent their day with us. We played with and fed them. The language barrier being ever present. The parenting tools we’d accumulated over the past 32 years came into practice but were not easily embraced by these children who were most often left to care for themselves. The consistency we brought, in that little house, began to build their trust for us.

Today those same children, with quite a few more added to the group, are completely unrecognizable. In the moment it isn’t always easy to believe that your consistency and perseverance are making a difference; but looking back you can see the mountains of change behind you.

Each day we see enormous growth compared to our “little house” days. Just last month we hosted our very first kindergarten graduation. It isn’t easy to describe how massive of a moment that was for us.

The kids were incredibly excited and proud of themselves; but not only that, their parents attended. That alone speaks volumes to the hard work of our team. These are the parents from those heavily oppressed villages who are raised to believe that violence works better than words and that education wasn’t attainable or needed. They were beaming. It was such a big step towards gaining more trust with the parents and in turn, towards our dream to restore not only children but their entire family. This is why we do what we do. 

It was 2004, Carmen was five years old, when she, her six other siblings and mother were living underneath a gazebo in a public park in Tijuana Mexico. At just five years old, she was dreaming of becoming a math teacher. Twelve years later, Carmen has just graduated from our three year School of Missions and has begun working in the on-site jr high and high school; teaching children who have similar stories to hers. She has plans to attend university part time, while continuing to work at The Mission. Her younger siblings are still living at and growing up in our orphanage; each of them thriving. 

Back in 2004, to avoid the domestic violence and abuse at home, their biological mother and all of the kids found themselves trying to survive while living in a public park.  Their mother was unable to keep a steady job and Carmen says it was up to her to care for, feed and protect her siblings. Over the next few years, Carmen and her siblings were in and out of social services holding centers. Carmen says that her siblings are her strength and inspiration to keep going. In 2008, through some of The Mission’s staff members, Carmen and her siblings came to our local church. They began attending regularly and built a relationship with our team. Shortly after that, they moved on campus and into our orphanage. Carmen says she specifically remembers who from The Mission team, welcomed her that day. That was the beginning of her process of redefining family. 

All seven of the siblings were born prematurely. Carmen remembers the day her younger brother, Edwin was born. It was so quick that a policemen ended up catching him; their biological mother was working, selling newspapers on the sidewalk, when it happened. He had health complications that affected his feet and legs and was unable to walk until having a surgery at five years old. Even still, walking was a difficult task and running was impossible. One day, some of The Mission staff prayed for Edwin’s feet and legs; we watched God heal him before our eyes! Edwin ran around campus and to this day is a living, breathing testimony of the Lord’s faithfulness. 

We are incredibly grateful to Carmen for letting us become her family and trusting us to love and care for her and her siblings. Throughout her life she has had very clear visions and dreams from God, that have guided her to the confidence she exudes today. It was, and still is, truly an honor to have each of them in The Mission family.